The Day Started Amazingly

Thursday, 24 May 2007: God sent someone my way for at least three reasons:

1. To show me, for the millionth time, that He loves me;


2. To ease my grieving heart because of Charlie Pace's death; and


3. To make sure my 24th birthday is awesome.

Now this:

God must love me so much!

This is one of the many, many reasons why Kelly Brianne Clarkson is my favourite American Idol.

Take that, Clive Davis!

Probably more posts today. Ciao for now.

American Idol: Four for Six

On a lighter note, I watched a bit of the American Idol grand finale while I was waiting for the LOST season finale. (FYI: I watch the American broadcast, instead of the Canadian one... and I'm Canadian.)

Anyway, I saw Kelly Clarkson perform "Never Again". Well, it was like when she performed "Because of You" in the 2006 Grammy Awards - her voice was kind-of raspy, but she managed to sing it well. Although she mangled the lyrics of her own song. On the first refrain, the words should have been "try and make it all okay," instead of "repent yourself away". But that's OK; she's still my favourite American Idol.

Carrie Underwood was there too. Which was awesome, because my two favourite Idols were there.

Anyway, these were my predictions and the results of the six American Idol seasons:

Season 1: Kelly Clarkson vs Justin Guarini - Why would I choose Justin over Kelly? I predicted Kelly Clarkson would win and she did. One for one.

Season 2: Ruben Studdard vs Clay Aiken - I predicted Ruben would win and he did. Two for two.

Season 3: Fantasia Barrino vs Diana DeGarmo - I predicted Fantasia would win and she did. Three for three.

Season 4: Carrie Underwood vs Bo Bice - I didn't predict anything because both were just so-so for me. I only started to like Carrie Underwood after she won, although I felt Carrie was the stronger singer and performer. Three for four.

Season 5: Taylor Hicks vs Katharine McPhee - I predicted Katharine would win, but Taylor did. Three for five.

Season 6: Jordin Sparks vs Blake Lewis - I predicted Jordin would win - and she did! Four for six.

So while LOST was on a commercial break, I switched channels and saw Jordin singing the final song. While I was wiping my tears, I was partly rejoicing because Jordin won.

That's all for now. Ciao.

Through the Looking Glass... With Tearful Eyes

Did I waste my tears this time?

Last Wednesday, Charlie didn't die. Did he really die in the season finale? (I'm just in denial; he did die. *Sniff*)

This and a few other questions.

Was Ben telling the truth? When he said he was going to talk Jack out of turning off Rousseau's message, did he know who Naomi really is?

Who is Naomi? Who is she really? If Penny didn't send her and her company, then who sent her?

Why didn't Pryce and Tom kill Bernard, Jin, and Sayid? Who decided to shoot the sand three times instead of the three Losties? Pryce? Tom? Neither?

Why did Juliet lie to Kate (back in "Left Behind") as to why Jack didn't want Kate to go back for him?

Why did Jack kiss Juliet if he loved Kate?

Were the off-island events really flash-fowards instead of flashbacks? (They were.)

How did Locke know what "work" he was supposed to do? Did Walt tell him?

Was it Walt? Was it a manifestation of what Ben called "forces stronger than anything it has faced in many many years"? Was it Cerberus (a.k.a. Smoky the Monster)? Was it Jacob?

What was a gun doing in the DHARMA mass grave? Did it belong to one of the dead DHARMA Initiative people? Is that why one skull seemed to have a gunshot-wound-sized hole? Who shot that particular person? Was that the same person who left the gun in the mass grave?

Who was the musician that programmed the code in The Looking Glass?

Who did Jack talk to on Naomi's satellite phone?

Where is the temple that Ben talked about with Richard? What are Richard and the rest of the Others supposed to do there?

Why wasn't Jack supposed to make that phone call?

What was in the newspaper article? Was it the dead person that he visited? Why was he neither a friend nor a family? Was it an Island person? Why was he so devastated after he read the article that he wanted to jump off the bridge?

Is Christian Shephard dead or alive? Why did Jack, in the flash-forward, speak about his father as if he were alive?

Did baby Aaron inconsolably cry because he felt what happened to Charlie?

Will Claire and baby Aaron get off the island so Charlie's death wouldn't be futile?

OK, I'm gonna stop now. I might cry again.

But I can say now that, until February 2008, the LOST-related sites will be smoking with theories and stuff about season four. I'm gonna start with this blog and the official LOST Wiki.

I'm gonna cry myself to sleep now. Ciao.

RCA Records Executives Suck

What's wrong with the music industry?

Most people - the radio listeners, CD buyers, digital music downloaders (legal), music DVD buyers, and all other kinds of music industry consumers - like singers who write their own music. They consider them as artists, as opposed to those who sing songs written by others and are classified as only singers. For example, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys, Usher, Mary J. Blige, Pink, U2, Linkin Park, Prince, Janet Jackson, and Christina Aguilera write and produce most, if not all, of their own music.

Why can't Kelly Clarkson write her own music?

Is it because she was the first American Idol? Is it because she's a pop artist? Is it because of her "squeaky clean" image?

If Clive Davis answered yes to any of the three questions above, I'll say, "That's bull!"

Seriously, I thought RCA encourages taking creative and artistic risks? I mean, they let Christina Aguilera release Stripped without any qualms (at least none was reported). Why are they so apprehensive about My December? And, why did they try to convince Kelly to cover a Lindsay Lohan song?! Kudos to Kelly for refusing that absurd idea.

What in the world is wrong with RCA?

Charlie Pace is Alive... For Now

I wasted my tears.

Because by the conclusion of tonight's episode (which was thirty-nine minutes ago), Charlie Hieronymus Pace was still alive!

You see, Desmond David Hume (the supposed Lostie psychic who's in love with Penelope Widmore) had told Charlie that, however Desmond tries to prevent it, Charlie would die. In tonight's episode, Desmond told poor Charlie that he needs to die in order for them - including Claire and baby Aaron - to be rescued.

After he said that, tears just started welling in my eyes. Then I cried every time the topic of Charlie's impending death would come up, like when he said "I love you" to baby Aaron and to Hurley, and when he and Claire kissed. And then the final sequence made me sob as if I were Claire learning of Charlie's death.

Anyway, Charlie is still alive. However, the last scene showed two women pointing their guns at Charlie. Well, it was his fault. When he came up from the moon pool, he started yelling that he was alive (understandable, really). Little did he know that the underwater Dharma station, "The Looking Glass," is inhabited (although nobody told him whether the station was empty or not; Juliet only said that Ben told her it was flooded - unless Ben was lying).

And then, on the preview for next Wednesday's two-hour season finale, Charlie is shown sitting on a metal chair with his arms tied behind him. Someone (probably one of the women) just hit him with the butt of a rifle. Alive, but hurt.

Of course I will have to wait for an entire week before I will know for sure that Charlie will live on to season four. Not only him, but Bernard and Jin too.I still hope everyone lives on to the next season, despite spoilers and semi-official statements from the executive producers themselves that four more people will die after Anthony Cooper, who was Locke's biological father.

Being a Second Banana Sucks

I'm very thankful that Kelly Clarkson wasn't a member of a hugely popular singing group and that RCA Records has not announced that My December is going to be released later than July 24th, 2007. (Though one can never guarantee that it will never happen.) Because if that's the case, then I will storm or write a very scathing letter to her label and to Sony BMG.

MediaTakeOut.com reported on May 11th, that the release of Kelly Rowland's sophomore solo album, Ms. Kelly, is pushed back from June 26th to July 3rd. That's after Music World Entertainment and Columbia Records did the same thing last year when they changed the release date to June 26th. I thought that it can be just a rumour. Unfortunately, Kelly's own label website confirmed that Ms. Kelly will be released on July 3rd.

In contrast, Beyoncé's sophomore solo album, B'Day, was released shortly after its completion. A few months after its release, Columbia Records released a deluxe edition.

Doesn't Kelly Rowland deserve the same treatment?

She's as talented as Beyoncé, as beautiful as Beyoncé, and as deserving as Beyoncé.

There are actually rumours that Music World (owned by Mathew Knowles) and Columbia Records chose to release B'Day over Ms. Kelly.

And that's not the only thing that's messed up. Not so long ago, FMQB reported that JC Chasez's single "You Ruined Me" is going for radio adds on May 1st. On that day, the song didn't go for radio adds. Instead, FMQB reported that it will be pushed back to May 29th - a full four weeks after the recent change (it has been changed several times before). Also, his sophomore solo album, Kate, still doesn't have a definite release date. Can you say, déjà vu?

JC's debut solo album, Schizophrenic, was pushed back several times until it was released on February 24th, 2004. As far as marketing went, Jive Records tanked. JC's buddy, Dallas Austin, even wore a shirt saying, "Jive Sucks!" - effectively saying what all JC fans thought and talked about in forums, e-groups, etc.

In contrast, if I listened to the radio all day (thank God I don't), I'd get to hear all Justin Timberlake singles from his sophomore solo album, Future Love/Sex Sounds, more than once (an understatement).

I understand the radio and the deejay factors, but JC lacks support from his own record label. Enough support, man, enough support.

I don't dislike Beyoncé as much as I dislike Justin (an understatement); both are talented, yet can be overrated.

On the other hand, Kelly Rowland and JC Chasez are both talented, yet they are underrated.

What's up with this world?

Personally, I tend to avoid superstars and to support the so-called second banana (e.g. Kelly Rowland and JC Chasez). I don't like hyped-up stars. They usually deserve less than they get. Unfortunately, people like Kelly and JC deserve more, much more, than they currently get.

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